Vehicle occupant seated weight detection systems are useful in connection with air bags and other pyrotechnically deployed restraints as a means of characterizing the occupant. For example, the seated weight of the occupant may be used to distinguish between large and small adults; full deployment force is usually enabled in the case of a large adult, while reduced deployment force is usually enabled in the case of a small adult. In a typical implementation, the detected seated weight is filtered or averaged and compared to a calibrated threshold, where occupant seated weight above the threshold indicates the presence of a large adult, and occupant seated weight below the threshold (but above a minimum adult threshold) indicates the presence of a small adult. A limited degree of threshold hysteresis can be employed to prevent repeated changes in the determined characterization due to minor occupant weight or position shifting. For example, if the occupant is characterized as a large adult, the detected weight would have to fall below the large adult threshold by at least a hysteresis amount (and possibly for at least a calibrated time period) before characterizing the occupant as a small adult. However, such an approach can only account for minor re-positioning of the occupant, and fails to prevent undesired oscillation of the occupant characterization. Accordingly, what is needed is a more robust method of distinguishing between large and small adult seat occupants.